Having made a name for himself as an actor in Metrosexuality, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Doctor Who, Noel Clarke added directing to his impressive list of accomplishments this year with the gritty London drama Adulthood. We caught up with Noel after his nomination for BAFTA's Orange Rising Star of 2009 to discuss his promising future, out-muscling The Incredible Hulk, and his thoughts on the new Doctor.

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Is getting nominated for this type of award good for the ego or do you not take them that seriously?
"I always try not to have an ego. I think it's important to try and stay humble and just be gracious and be who you are. You'll find very little tabloid articles about me if you do your journalist search thing. 90% of the things are broadsheets and stuff because I try to just work as hard as I can and not be falling out of clubs with a Page 3 model. I just love what I do. I love acting and writing and directing, so I just try and do that. So no, you always have to keep your ego in check - never be complacent, never assume anything."

The award recognizes talent and ambition. What does that mean to you? What are your ambitions?
"I guess [my] ambition, I've always been a person that's wanted to work and wanted to do well. Without being concerned about being the best or winning, I think that I've never been afraid of losing. If you're not afraid of losing then you have nothing to lose, which has enabled me to take chances that other people might not take. When someone said 'do you want to direct Adulthood' I was scared, but I did it because that's what you have to do - take your opportunities."

You wrote, directed and starred in Adulthood. Would you give that up to work on a big blockbuster?
"If I could do one eighth of what these guys (the other nominees) have done then I'd be very happy. The jobs that I do, that's not the package. I don't have to do those three jobs with everything I do."

Does that make it more difficult to figure out what you're directing next if you're still so busy acting?
"No, because you kind of have what you want to direct next. It'll be there and it'll just be a case of scheduling; whether you're gonna direct before you act in a job or you're gonna act in a job before directing. That's the ideal situation that obviously I'd love to be in, that's something that hopefully can come out of this, that I could maybe be in demand and not just always creating work myself which would be good."

Would you go back to Doctor Who now that you've moved into film?
"I love Doctor Who, I've always loved it. It's a show that's supported me, I've supported the show. Hopefully they'll come out and support me again and if the timing was right and I wasn't busy and they weren't busy and they wanted me it would be something to talk about... which wasn't a definite yes or no!"

What do you think of Matt Smith as the new Doctor?
"I think he's great. I don't know him, never met him, but I support him 100%. I think he's brilliant. I think he's going to be absolutely brilliant and Doctor Who fans will support him, just like they'll support David doing whatever David does and hopefully again they'll come out and support me."

The 2009 Orange Rising Star winner will be announced at the BAFTAs on February 8.